Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
Text taken from an article which appeared in alternatio.org
Commentary by Russian military journalist Boris Rozhin is in italics.
[ColonelCassad] One can argue whether the Third World War is being prepared or is already underway, what phases precede large-scale military actions and whether they will happen at all, given the destructiveness of nuclear weapons, however, one way or another, any organization of large masses of people (whether it is the organization of the rear, the front or the entire country after the "nuclear apocalypse") requires mental, ideological preparation.
One of the factors of the victory of the Soviet people in the Great Patriotic War was a systematic, planned, not only technical and technical, organizational, personnel, etc., but also ideological, mental preparation for war. The Nazi attack in 1941 was sudden and treacherous in the operational and tactical sense, but expected and inevitable in the strategic and political sense.
The Soviet people were prepared by the authorities for war. Tractor drivers in the MTS realized that the tractor would sooner or later be replaced by a tank. Members of numerous flying clubs - that gliders would be replaced by fighters and attack aircraft. Workers - that they will have to take up the rifle again, etc.
MTS is an acronym for Machine Tractor Station, a peculiar accoutrement under Soviet collectivization in the 1930s, whereby machinery needed to cultivate crops on the larger Khokhols and Goskhols (collective farms and state farms respectively) were concentrated in Machine Tractor Stations, likely as a cost saving measure.
In the USSR there were cowards, there were alarmists, there were scoundrels, there were self-seekers and deserters but, firstly, they did not set the tone among the people, and secondly, even they clearly and distinctly understood the justice, sacredness and liberation character of the war. And not only because it was self-evident, but also as a result of many years of ideological pumping.
The difference in the presence and absence of ideological preparation for war, the political argumentation of the authorities is clearly visible if we compare the Korean (1950-1953) and Vietnamese (1965-1974) wars in American history.
The first was fought under the ideological pressure of McCarthyism and had virtually no effect on the state of American society and the stability of power, while the second led to a number of social crises. The objective side of American policy at that time — the hegemonic, unjust nature of wars — was thus smoothed over in different ways by the subjective factor of the state's ideological work.
Ordinary Germans also entered the war with the USSR voluntarily, driven by ideology and plans for the Nazi reorganization of the world, and until they got their teeth kicked in the teeth near Moscow and in Stalingrad, the realization of the objective failure of the concept of their racial superiority did not come. Historians note that after Stalingrad, the morale of the fascist front and rear was not at its best and was falling with each passing day.
Of course, the war of motors is primary, but the war of minds plays a key role when there is no multiple advantage in motors. Moreover, high motivation, a sense of danger to the Motherland, the inner spiritual core of the people, love of freedom, steadfastness and self-sacrifice, with the right organization, allow either to eliminate or neutralize the advantage of motors.
We can recall the recent history of the intervention of the well-armed, equipped-with-the-latest-technology, Saudi Arabian armed forces in Yemen. There are many videos on the Internet in which the Houthis in flip-flops, without armor and equipment, with only small arms in their hands, smash the strongholds of the tactical Saudis.
The lessons of the wars of the 20th century, the rare victories of Western countries and frequent defeats are analyzed in the United States and Europe. The conclusions are actively tested in controlled countries, in particular in Ukraine, Poland and the Baltics.
So, a big surprise for everyone, including American tacticians and strategists, was that the rank and file of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and a significant part of the Ukrainian people actually believed in the absolutely absurd idea of hostility between Russia and Russians towards Ukrainians.
The average Ukrainian, even if we imagine that he does not know Russian, is not threatened by the Russian Federation as a state. The very idea of "Russia is seizing Ukraine" sounds ridiculous, because the fate of Ukraine is being decided in the confrontation between the Russian Federation and the United States. That is, a significant part of Ukrainians preferred the distant and culturally alien Americans and Europeans, who do not know, do not understand, do not respect and do not love Ukraine and Ukrainians.
You can criticize and dislike the Russian Federation as a state as much as you like, but in theory no one except the hardened Banderites should want to die in the trenches for the yellow-blue trident, the Rada, the Zelensky-Poroshenko swindlers. But at least in the first year of the SVO there were many of them. This means that the ideological pumping worked brilliantly. What historical shame and disgrace awaits Ukrainians when they realize that they have fallen victim to the dusty Nazi myth of a horde of Asian subhumans threatening the eastern borders of civilization.
It must be understood that in 2022, the West put an end to the era of soft, glamorous, liberal debilitation of its own and other people's populations. There is a gradual transition to a rabid ideological mobilization in the spirit of a new Cold War with Russophobia, Sinophobia and all other phobias and uplifting myths.
In the United States, they are returning to McCarthyism, which historically was a creative reworking of Goebbelsism. No matter how the confrontation between the Trumpists and the chicks of the Obama-Biden nest ends, no matter how the break of the French, German and other European gardeners and vegetable growers between Atlanticism and sovereignty ends, the masses of citizens of Western countries will be mentally and ideologically prepared for a third world war.
A question may arise: why is their ideological pumping up Goebbelsism, while ours is the Soviet patriotism of the past or Russian patriotism of today? Why is it militarization and imperialism for them, while ours is preparation to repel aggression and the desire for freedom and security? This is an important point, which is speculated on by both the liberal emigration and some ironically cynical nationalists who complain: “We are not like that.”
Because we really are not like that. And the Chinese are not like that. And the Iranians are not like that.
| I’m sorry, my dear editorialist, but both the Iranians and thr Chinese really, really are like that. Russia has enough problems right now that I’m not going to worry about you just now, though others here might. |
All of us, countries that willingly and unwillingly oppose the hegemony of the United States and do not want to exchange it for the hegemony of the EU, are not like that. And the USSR was not like that.
| I am willing to differentiate between modern Russia and the USSR, but your revolution was truly unkind to your people, as well as everyone entwined with it. |
For various reasons, but the states opposing American imperialism are of a different formation, and so far none of them have been observed to strive for world domination, extermination of peoples, imposition of orders that are beneficial only to themselves, etc. In many ways, the reason is that the period of political formation and formation of states other than the “golden billion” coincided with the Cold War, which for them was an era of national liberation struggle.
The idea that a creeping rehabilitation of Nazism is taking place in Western countries has already been established in our literature and political agenda. This is clearly visible in the anti-Russian regimes in the border states (in Ukraine, the Baltics, Poland), that is, in those countries whose leadership has betrayed the interests of their peoples, turning the states into strongholds of pro-American military and political pressure on the Russian Federation.
Incidentally, the reorientation of the United States from Europe to East Asia is unlikely to weaken these regimes or cause their collapse. They will continue to enjoy the passive support of the United States and the active support of France, Germany and the EU. No one will lose such an asset for no reason.
The Nazification of public consciousness is taking place in Europe less clearly. Although, for example, Lavrov has explained more than once:
“There is no word that would characterize this phenomenon. It is truly (I am not being ironic now) incomprehensible to the mind how the European Union openly wants to renew the European ideology of Nazism, where it was born, where it was destroyed, categorically banned by the Nuremberg Tribunal (also on European territory).
Now it is being revived. Moreover, the leadership in this process belongs to the leaders of the Brussels bureaucracy. These are very sad events, very disturbing events. Of course, we will not put up with this, we will make every effort to ensure that this ideology does not raise its head, that it is destroyed once and for all and that Europe finally returns to its values.”
The point is that Nazism is only a form, a variety of ideological justification for world domination, which has always been the main value of Europe. Europe in general was formed as a place where empires arose.
| …as was Russia, though like America, for most of its history it started later and concentrated on expanding within its own landmass. |
In this sense, America was only catching up with Europe.
The United States, after all, was once an anti-imperialist and anti-colonialist force. And in Europe, freedom and liberation (for example, the Great French Revolution) historically always only flickered on the horizon, quickly degenerating into imperialism, but remaining a subject of philosophical and poetic comprehension.
The situation is even less clear with America, especially with the advent of Trump, who situationally switches from Russia to China. The Nazification of American public consciousness was usually recorded through the imposition of Russophobia, the Russian threat. Since the priority has now changed, it is more difficult to notice.
However, both Europe and the USA have forgotten even the external decencies of pluralism, the tyranny of self-censorship and the artificially fanned flames of public censure are raging. Despite the fact that the "general line" sometimes fluctuates greatly, having an opinion different from the official one is indecent and dangerous. This in itself is a sign of ideological mobilization and preparation.
The key moment of Nazification in any country is the falsification of the history of World War II, the distortion of historical truth and memory, expressed in oblivion, belittling the role or defamation of the Soviet people, the Soviet state (USSR), the Red Army, Stalin.
World War II was an event that determined the appearance of the 20th century. The modern world in a political sense is a consequence and result of World War II. And in order to enter the slippery slope of preparation for a world war today, it will inevitably be necessary to resolve the historical analogy with the last world war. And this is all the easier to do, the more false its history is.
The US Presidential Proclamation on the 80th Anniversary of Victory in World War II does not mention the USSR:
"On this V-I Day, we celebrate the unrivaled might, strength, and effectiveness of the American Armed Forces and pledge to defend our sacred right to freedom from all threats, foreign and domestic... Without the sacrifice of our American soldiers, this war would not have been won, and our world would look very different today."
Trump's statements like these cannot be taken lightly:
"We did more to win World War II than any other country — incomparably more... We won both wars, and no one came close in strength, courage, or military skill."
"We won the war. Russia helped us. They lost 51 million people. And you know, we can't forget that."
"We must never forget that Russia helped us win World War II, losing almost 60 million people in the process."
These are not showman's quirks, but the result of a revision of historiography in the United States. Truman once declared in no less brazen fashion that the USSR had made no contribution to the defeat of Japan...
Since the 1990s, the historiography of World War II has been systematically falsified in Europe. Most history textbooks in Western European countries say that the United States made a decisive contribution to the victory over fascism, and that the Soviet Union survived only thanks to Lend-Lease.
And this year, a new national holiday appeared in Germany - Veterans Day. The Financial Times complains that many people, especially in the east, were skeptical about it, but kindly notes:
"This event symbolizes a profound transformation in the attitude of German society to its armed forces and to the very concept of military service, especially against the backdrop of the war in Ukraine."
"We could not be proud of our past wars," says Patrick Sensburg, head of the German Reservists Association. — In the 50s, 60s and 70s there was no culture of honoring veterans in the Bundeswehr.”
It is not difficult to guess what kind of veterans the Germans are supposed to honor. As well as how we are now supposed to treat the Germans and all other Europeans who decided to repeat themselves in history. The truly insightful German Hegel wrote in his “Philosophy of History”:
“Thus Napoleon was defeated twice, and the Bourbons were expelled twice. Through the repetition of what at first seemed only accidental and possible, it becomes a real and established fact.”
The war of memory unleashed by the West is an element of the ideological pumping up of the masses in preparation for a major war.
The war of memory is the first phase of Nazification.
(c) Anatoly Shirokoborodov
It should be noted that attacks on historical memory come from both outside and inside.
Spoken like a true Stalinist
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